Fluency
Tutor Handout: Teaching FluencyWhy Teach Fluency?
Fluency is the ability to read accurately at a sufficiently fast rate with proper pauses and intonation. Fluency paves the way to comprehension because fluent readers spend less energy on word attack and concentrate more on the meaning of text.
Reading Rate Standards
Standard rates of fluency have been established in a number of studies. However, the standards vary from study to study. The following table represents average rates of the most commonly cited studies.
Reading-Tutors Reading Rate Standards
| Grade | Early Rate | End Rate |
| 1 | 50 | 70 |
| 2 | 70 | 100 |
| 3 | 100 | 130 |
| 4 | 130 | 140 |
| 5 | 140 | 160 |
| 6 | 160 | 170 |
Research Study Recommendations
| Grade | Rasinski | Manzo | Harris & Sipay |
| 1 | 80 | (1.8) 30-54 | 60-90 |
| 2 | 90 | (2.8) 66-104 | 85-120 |
| 3 | 110 | (3.8) 86-124 | 115-140 |
| 4 | 140 | (4.8) 95-130 | 140-170 |
| 5 | 150 | (5.8) 108-140 | 170-195 |
| 6 | 180 | (6.8) 112-145 | 195-220 |
Fluency Packet Contents
The Reading-Tutors program contains 126 tutor packets to promote fluency over 21 levels of reading difficulty (levels F through Z). There are six packets at each level. Each packet contains two reading passages. The tutor packets include:
- Lesson Plan/Tutor Tips - Suggestions for doing timed readings and coaching the student.
- Reading passages - Two reading passages, one fiction and one nonfiction, for repeated reading practice.
- Graph - A repeated reading bar graph to chart reading rate.
- Word game and cards - A fun way to promote word recognition.
Teaching Fluency
A number of instructional approaches can contribute to improved fluency and overall reading achievement.
- Repeated and monitored oral reading with guidance
- Instructor modeling of fluent reading followed by student re-reading
- Repeated practice with familiar passages and books at the child's independent reading level
- Graphing of reading rate over repeated readings
- Student-tutor and peer reading
Assessment
There are two types of fluency assessments. The first type has a child perform a timed reading of a series of sentences and then answer true/false statements about the sentences. There are three of these assessments, each with more difficult sentences than the preceding one. The second type of fluency assessment is a one-minute timed reading of a passage to measure number and accuracy of words read. There are 252 fluency passages representing 21 levels of difficulty from F through Z.
